The Bridge
by The Sunflower Youkai
Summary: Just a little back story I imagined for how Parsee and Yuugi met, and my first story uploaded here. Hope you like it! Rated M for some rude language near the end.


**The Bridge**

Many, many years ago, there lived a small youkai. This was a time when both youkai and humans could freely interact, as humans believed in youkai then. Most of the time, however, these interactions were not friendly. Youkai eating humans was a common event in this time, so any youkai who wanted to be friendly would usually pretend to be human themselves. For most, this was not a difficult task as they did not visually appear any different than the common human. Our little youkai, however, had rather large, pointy ears which she made sure she kept covered with her hair whenever going out. This little youkai was in love with a human. He loved her too; he had told her so himself. But he did not know she was a youkai. And, although she was not a very powerful youkai, she knew that if he found out her true identity he might reject her. As she had no family or friends or anyone else to care for, she did not want this to happen. But, she let time pass by, too much in bliss to worry about things like that.

The human was somewhat peculiar; he always wanted to meet the little youkai on a bridge over a small river near the edge of town. While the little youkai found that odd at first, she eventually began to think of the bridge as "their bridge" and it stopped bother her. Sometimes, after meeting at the bridge, they would go farther down the river to see the fish or they would go into town and shop around. Sometimes, the human bought the little youkai presents. She really enjoyed that.

One day, on the bridge, the human asked her why she always kept her hair held firmly over her ears. He didn't seem too concerned about it, so the little youkai just responded that her ears embarrassed her. Sometimes, other girls were embarrassed by their ears as well. Saying things like they're too big or too small. The human said that he wanted to see her, saying that they can't be that bad. The little youkai insisted that he couldn't, but he didn't listen. He began reaching over to mover her hair out of the way. The little youkai tried to stop him, but as she was not very strong, her attempt was to no avail. He pulled her hair out of the way.

He saw her ears, which any human in that day would recognize as belonging to a youkai. The little youkai quickly covered her ears and apologized. The human looked stunned for a little, but then asked what she was apologizing for. The little youkai didn't understand what he meant. She asked him, why wasn't he disgusted to look at her? To find out that she was a youkai, and had been lying to him for such a long time? The human didn't say anything, only smiled. He told her, that being a youkai didn't change who she was.

That he still loved her.

The little youkai's heart fluttered and her face began to turn red. She smiled as well, and she felt the happiest she had ever been.

Alas, that happiness could not last.

The little youkai and the human continued their regular meeting as if nothing had happened. The little youkai went back to being as happy as she was before he found out about her true identity. She would have stayed like this until the human died, forever unknowing if not for that fateful day.

One day, the little youkai left much earlier than usual. The human was always bringing her presents, so she felt she needed to bring him one. She decided to make a lunch, but wanted the best ingredients she could get, so she went to the market before going to their bridge. She finished assembling the ingredients early, so she decided to head over to the bridge, thinking she could begin to assemble the food there. But before she could turn all the way around the last building in town, the building nearest to the bridge, she stopped. For she saw the human at the bridge.

And he was not alone.

The human was with a woman the little youkai did not know. This woman was very beautiful, the little youkai could not deny that. And the little youkai knew right away this could be no mere friend of the human, for they were kissing passionately when she first saw them. And when they stopped, the words they spoke ripped her little youkai heart to shreds.

"Hah! That youkai girl you told me about is such a slut!" the woman laughed. The little youkai hoped the human would deny this statement, but instead:

"Of course, all of them are! And so gullible, too! She thought I was being serious when I said I loved her! What human would love a youkai?" They both laughed. The little youkai recalled the pretty sharp knife she packed to prepare the food. "I was planning on getting rid of her anyway, she was so boring! She hardly had the courage to kiss me, let alone let me do anything else!" The little youkai left the rest of the picnic behind and tucked the knife into her obi. She didn't want to use it until hearing what he had to say.

"Who are you?" The little youkai asked the woman, coming out into their view. _And why are you on our bridge?_

"I hope you heard what we said before." The woman told her. "And if you didn't, here's a summary: You're a stupid little cunt and we can't believe you could ever delude yourself into thinking a human and youkai relationship could ever work out." The little youkai looked at the human. He had a mocking look on his face. She couldn't take it anymore.

The woman opened her mouth to continue, but before she could say another word, the little youkai pushed her over the side of the bridge. The water was very deep, and it was clear the woman could not swim. She was splashing about, screaming for help, though no one else was nearby.

The human tried to reach for her but soon gave up. He turned to the little youkai and charged at her. While he outmatched her in strength, the little youkai was much faster than him. She dodged around him, pulled out the knife, and stabbed him once. He was in clear pain but still moving so she stabbed again. And again. And again and again until he no longer moved. Then she, with much difficulty, dumped his body over the side of the bridge and into the river.

She looked down at herself. Her clothes were covered in blood and she still clutched the knife in her hand. She was shocked at what she'd just done. She'd killed the unfaithful love of her life and his lover. How could she have done this? She dropped to her knees and cried. Then she looked at he knife again. There was only one way to pay for what she'd done, she thought. Trembling, with tears still running down the sides of her face she lifted the knife and faced it towards her…

"Whoa, there!" she heard a masculine, yet womanly voice call out. She felt a strong hand grip her own and manipulate the knife away from her. She looked up to see the person who halted her attempted suicide. A very tall woman with long blonde hair and scarlet eyes stared back down at her with a look of disbelief. A red horn in the middle of her forehead betrayed that she was an oni. "I don't know what went on here," the woman said, starting to help the little youkai up "but there can never be a reason to take away your own life." She tossed the knife into they river, which had red streaks flowing through it from the blood. "Come with me." the woman said. "Let us drink to drown our sorrows out and be merry instead."

"Who are you?" The little youkai asked the next morning, having no recollection of what happened after this woman, her savior, came along.

"Yuugi Hoshiguma, one of the four devas of the mountain." The woman, Yuugi replied. "And what about yourself? Who are you? And what happened yesterday?"

Parsee explained all that had happened. She felt very… heavy during her retelling. This truly must be the immense weight of murder.

"Humans are asses." Yuugi replied. "Youkai can be, too, but that's not really the point right now."

They talked about other things after that, generally avoiding the subject of death and humans, and although Yuugi assured her that she did it in the heat of the moment and out of shock, Parsee wasn't so sure.

That night, Parsee had a dream that she will never forget. A small figure with a powerful appearance, showed herself before Parsee. She introduced herself as the Judge of Paradise, Shikieiki. Parsee was surprised that a judge of the dead was talking to her now. Shikieiki explained that it was decided between the other yama that Parsee should face punishment now, as she was not entirely in the wrong, so that when she truly ascends to heaven her sins will have lessened. Parsee asked her why she should be pitied upon like that, but Shikieiki explained that this was quite different from pity, as she would soon be sent to hell alive. Parsee was about to ask the yama what that meant, but before she could, her punishment was announced:

"I, Shikieiki, with the power bestowed upon me from the heavens, sentence you, Parsee Mizuhashi, to a curse of uncontrolled jealousy. Your hair will lighten to yellow and your eyes will turn green with envy so that others will know to stay away from you. You can never hide your true nature ever again. This will be your punishment until you have paid for your crime."

The next morning, my hair was lighter than Yuugi's and my eyes were green like the leaves on the trees. It was most definitely not just a dream. I have lived looking like this for a few centuries since then. While I'm jealous of Yuugi's height and figure, she was the most important person to me since the day she saved my life, and she still is.


End file.
